{"id":13638,"date":"2011-06-30T01:22:28","date_gmt":"2011-06-30T01:22:28","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-06-30T02:19:10","modified_gmt":"2011-06-30T02:19:10","slug":"janice-hahn-extreme-makeover-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/2011\/06\/30\/janice-hahn-extreme-makeover-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"Janice Hahn: Extreme Makeover Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"255\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9kjN8Cqf0sI\" frameborder=\"0\" align=right allowfullscreen><\/iframe>How about that CA-36 election?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/veniceforchange.blogspot.com\/2011\/06\/ca-36-election-most-offensive-political.html\">Racist videos<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/articles.latimes.com\/2011\/jun\/15\/news\/la-pn-hahn-sexist-ad-20110615\">demands, counter demands<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/articles.latimes.com\/2011\/jun\/17\/news\/la-pn-hahn-ad-complaint-20110617\">FEC complaints<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/blogs\/davidcatanese\/0611\/Hahns_milking_of_Homeboyz.html\">massive fundraising<\/a> off of said video, a weird &#8220;sexting&#8221; scandal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/blogs\/davidcatanese\/0611\/Former_Hahn_aide_steps_down_over_sexting.html\">involving Hahn&#8217;s former chief of staff<\/a>, more <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/news\/local\/la-me-election-congress-20110627,0,6403097.story\">negative mailers than I can shake a stick at<\/a>, and now this:<\/p>\n<p>Janice Hahn is apparently no longer a Democrat.<\/p>\n<p>According to the ad above, Janice Hahn is&nbsp;&#8220;a local City Council Woman who has never held partisan office.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s review for a second, shall we? Just two months ago, when Hahn was <a href=\"http:\/\/veniceforchange.blogspot.com\/2011\/04\/only-thing-grassroots-is-lawn-outside.html#more\">competing for the official CA Dem Party endorsement<\/a>, her campaign caused quite a stir when it called into question <a href=\"http:\/\/veniceforchange.blogspot.com\/2011\/04\/janice-hahn-questions-debra-bowens.html\">a competing candidate&#8217;s party loyalty<\/a>, saying,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n<br \/><i>I was born a Democrat, I was raised a Democrat, and when I am elected to Congress, I will never forget that I&#8217;m a Democrat,&#8221; said Councilwoman Janice Hahn. &#8220;I grew up learning early on about Democratic values-my dad, former Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenny Hahn taught me about civil rights, equality, and the importance of the middle class. When I go to Congress I pledge to stand up for these Democratic values and be a fighter for the people of the 36th Congressional District.&#8221;<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Hahn&#8217;s new persona isn&#8217;t just limited to TV advertising either. More over the flip.<\/p>\n<p>One of the first things her campaign did was <a href=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/california-politics\/2011\/05\/janice-hahn-drops-los-angeles-from-ballot-designation-opponent-craig-huey-thinks-he-knows-why.html\">change her ballot description<\/a> from &#8220;LA City Councilwoman&#8221; to &#8220;Local City Councilwoman&#8221;, hoping to erase any negative associations and connections with the City of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>And in mailers sent out from the LA County Federation of Labor this week, there&#8217;s this:<\/p>\n<p><IMG SRC=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-Xt9n0tugZxk\/Tgn1sojXBwI\/AAAAAAAABSQ\/Y-Ehv5NwEVI\/s400\/photo.JPG\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p>So this is clearly a strategy on Hahn&#8217;s part to pivot away from her partisan image and depict the candidate in such a way that she&#8217;ll appeal to independent and swing voters.<\/p>\n<p>Now this might be a good strategy in a general election where you&#8217;re dealing with less informed voters and have time to rebrand yourself, but that&#8217;s not the election we&#8217;re in now.<\/p>\n<p>This election is a low turnout down and dirty sprint to the finish, where both candidates have to fire up a committed base of informed, partisan voters and drag them to the polls. &nbsp;The last thing you want to do is run away from the partisan voters who brung you to the dance in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>Craig Huey certainly isn&#8217;t running away from <i>his <\/i>base. They&#8217;re fired up and ready to go, recruiting Tea Party volunteers from <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/CraigHuey\/status\/84387876313370624\">as far away as San Diego<\/a> to come canvass for the candidate.<\/p>\n<p>And Huey isn&#8217;t at all shy about using Hahn&#8217;s numerous (and valid IMHO) attacks against him to both fire up his own voters and depress Hahn&#8217;s potential Democratic base. This week an IE from the &#8220;Friends of Huey For Congress&#8221; sent out a flyer calling into question Hahn&#8217;s honesty by dredging up the attacks her campaign made against Debra Bowen in the final days of the primary, even going as far as quoting Bowen&#8217;s campaign manager, as well as I post I put up on Daily Kos during the primary.<\/p>\n<p><IMG SRC=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-_r-_3Pt7Ca4\/Tgn8mqlhtnI\/AAAAAAAABSY\/PgNhftOoCNU\/s640\/photo.JPG\" width=\"476\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Now anyone reading my blog or the posts about the CA-36 race I&#8217;ve written here knows I&#8217;m not the biggest fan of Janice Hahn, but I also don&#8217;t want my district handed over to a Tea-bagger. I hope somebody, <i>anybody <\/i>from Hahn&#8217;s campaign will read this and come to their senses.<\/p>\n<p>In an election where turnout could go as low as 10-15%, where the electorate is suffering from some serious voter fatigue, <i>and many others have no idea there even is an election<\/i>, firing up the base is everything.<\/p>\n<p>In Hahn&#8217;s case, the base are committed Democrats who want a committed Democrat to fight for them in congress. By now presenting herself to voters as a&nbsp;&#8220;local City Council Woman who has never held partisan office&#8221;, she&#8217;s basically signaling to the base she&#8217;s yet another wishy-washy DINO Congress-critter who may or may not uphold the values they hold dear. Better than a Teabagger, sure, but not by much.<\/p>\n<p>And that, dear friends, can be a recipe for disaster. I guess we&#8217;ll know for sure in two weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"255\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9kjN8Cqf0sI\" frameborder=\"0\" align=right allowfullscreen><\/iframe>How about that CA-36 election?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/veniceforchange.blogspot.com\/2011\/06\/ca-36-election-most-offensive-political.html\">Racist videos<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/articles.latimes.com\/2011\/jun\/15\/news\/la-pn-hahn-sexist-ad-20110615\">demands, counter demands<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/articles.latimes.com\/2011\/jun\/17\/news\/la-pn-hahn-ad-complaint-20110617\">FEC complaints<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/blogs\/davidcatanese\/0611\/Hahns_milking_of_Homeboyz.html\">massive fundraising<\/a> off of said video, a weird &#8220;sexting&#8221; scandal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/blogs\/davidcatanese\/0611\/Former_Hahn_aide_steps_down_over_sexting.html\">involving Hahn&#8217;s former chief of staff<\/a>, more <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/news\/local\/la-me-election-congress-20110627,0,6403097.story\">negative mailers than I can shake a stick at<\/a>, and now this:<\/p>\n<p>Janice Hahn is apparently no longer a Democrat.<\/p>\n<p>According to the ad above, Janice Hahn is&nbsp;&#8220;a local City Council Woman who has never held partisan office.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s review for a second, shall we? Just two months ago, when Hahn was <a href=\"http:\/\/veniceforchange.blogspot.com\/2011\/04\/only-thing-grassroots-is-lawn-outside.html#more\">competing for the official CA Dem Party endorsement<\/a>, her campaign caused quite a stir when it called into question <a href=\"http:\/\/veniceforchange.blogspot.com\/2011\/04\/janice-hahn-questions-debra-bowens.html\">a competing candidate&#8217;s party loyalty<\/a>, saying,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n<br \/><i>I was born a Democrat, I was raised a Democrat, and when I am elected to Congress, I will never forget that I&#8217;m a Democrat,&#8221; said Councilwoman Janice Hahn. &#8220;I grew up learning early on about Democratic values-my dad, former Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenny Hahn taught me about civil rights, equality, and the importance of the middle class. When I go to Congress I pledge to stand up for these Democratic values and be a fighter for the people of the 36th Congressional District.&#8221;<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Hahn&#8217;s new persona isn&#8217;t just limited to TV advertising either. More over the flip.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5849,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[],"tags":[172,9988,5822],"class_list":["post-13638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-172","tag-9988","tag-5822"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Pvhz-3xY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5849"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}